


like a queen with her king

by achilleees



Series: jack/parse tumblr prompts [12]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Gender or Sex Swap, Misunderstandings, cis-swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 13:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9443579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/achilleees/pseuds/achilleees
Summary: Shitty found Kent on the porch. “Saw your girl here,” he said. “Can’t believe you actually got her to come to a party.”“She’s not my girl,” said Kent, trying not to blush.“She should be,” Shitty said, smiling and leaning against the railing. “Blind man could see the way you look at her, and you’re the only person she likes at school.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> someone from tumblr asked if i was still writing jackparse, and i am, only it's this ridiculous self-indulgent garbage, which is why i haven't been posting any. the anon persuaded me that one man's self-indulgent trash might also be another man's self-indulgent trash, so here, have some RIDICULOUS SELF-INDULGENT GARBAGE. anyway this is completely divorced from canon in every way - thematically, relationship-dynamically, plot-ily... i dunno man. I DUNNO.
> 
> so basically i was like, _what if jack was a girl who moved to kent's high school halfway through the year_ , took it, and ran with it.

Shitty found Kent on the porch. “Saw your girl here,” he said. “Can’t believe you actually got her to come to a party.” He smirked knowingly at Kent, like he knew damn well that getting her to come was the only reason Kent had thrown the party in the first place.

“She’s not my girl,” said Kent, trying not to blush.

“She should be,” Shitty said, smiling and leaning against the railing. “Blind man could see the way you look at her, and you’re the only person she likes at school.”

“Aw, that’s not fair,” Kent said. “She’s quiet, but she likes people well enough.”

“Not the way she likes you,” Shitty said.

Kent ducked his head. “Yeah, maybe,” he said.

“You’re cute,” Shitty said. “You should make a move on her tonight. No better time than this, right?”

Kent thought about this. It was true enough, and he didn’t have a good reason to deny it, other than the weird tight feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“I guess,” he said.

Shitty laughed. “I mean, if you want to. Or you can wuss out some more.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kent said. “I’ll - I’ll think about it, okay?”

Shitty made irritating bawking sounds at him until he scowled and went back inside. Ugh.

 

 

But he’d only been looking for Jack for a few minutes when Georgia came up to him, visibly upset. “Um, Kent,” she said, “I just saw Jack go into your room, and…”

A hot, electric feeling skittered down his spine at the idea of Jack in his room. “Yeah?”

“And then Chad went in a few minutes later,” she said, clearly reluctant to speak. “And now they’re…” She looked away.

Kent stared at her. His stomach dropped.

Forcing a laugh, he said, “What? No, she wouldn’t.”

“I swear,” Georgia said. “It was definitely her.”

“There’s gotta be something else,” Kent said. He started to walk upstairs, Georgia tagging at his heels. At his door, he paused.

Those were definitely sex sounds coming from inside his room. Light moans, a husky voice, cloth rasping. His gut twisted.

“She wouldn’t,” he said again, sounding stupid and desperate even to his own ears. “She knows why I invited her here tonight…”

“I’m sorry,” Georgia said.

Kent turned and went back downstairs, legs unsteady. He turned to the first people at the foot of the stairs – Jenny and Mandy. “Have you seen -?”

“Jack?” Jenny said. “Man, I’m sorry…”

“Fuck,” Kent said, a kernel of rage and embarrassment igniting inside him. “Fuck her! Who does that? Jesus Christ!”

“I’m so sorry, Kent,” Mandy said quietly.

“I gotta go,” Kent said. He couldn’t face any more pity, not like this.

 

 

But come Monday, it was coming at him from all sides. Enough people had seen Jack and Chad go upstairs at his house, and enough people knew how he felt about Jack, that it seemed like he was drowning in it. He had to keep from snarling when Georgia glanced over at him and bit her lip, face openly sympathetic.

Kent dropped into his seat at the lunch table and immediately hunched over, shoving half a sandwich in his mouth to keep from having to talk to anyone.

“Hey man -” Shitty started to say, quiet and gentle.

“Shut up,” Kent snapped.

“I just wanted you to know how -”

Kent closed his eyes. “I’m sure you think you’re helping, but…”

Shitty watched him for a moment, grimacing. “Camilla already dumped Chad, if that helps.”

Kent thought about this. It did, but only a little.

 

 

He didn’t see Jack all day until English class, and he stumbled in the doorway when he caught sight of her. She looked the same - pretty and composed and quiet, silky black hair bound up in a messy side braid, long legs crossed at the ankle under her chair. He wasn’t sure why he expected her to look any different, or any less beautiful to him.

“Hey,” Jack said when Kent sat down next to her. The assigned seating, of which he had been so grateful last week, must have been cosmic punishment.

He stared blankly at her. Her lack of tact was endearing on a good day, but like this? Like she was just going to breeze right past… Fuck her, seriously.

Jack shifted under his gaze. “Everything okay?” she said, raising her eyebrows.

Kent grunted and turned his eyes forward.

Jack didn’t try to speak with him again.

 

 

Not until after school, at least, approaching him at his locker during a rare moment alone. “You have practice after?”

Kent stuffed his chem textbook inside. He debated whether he could get away with not responding. “Yeah,” he finally said.

“Okay, well, let me know when you’ve got some time to work on the English presentation,” she said slowly. “I’m free Thursday afternoon and all weekend except Sunday morning.”

Fuck, the English presentation.  _Fuck_. “Yeah,” Kent said, digging around in his backpack for his gum - any excuse not to look at her. He hated her so much in that moment, for hurting him, and more, for not caring that she had. “Sure.”

In his peripheral vision, he saw the way she had her books clutched so tight against her chest her knuckles were standing out in stark relief. “Well, bye,” she said. “Good luck, or whatever.”

“Yeah,” Kent said for the third time. He couldn’t keep himself from watching her walk away.

 

 

Jack didn’t talk to him for two more days. Two days of Kent funneling all his anger and humiliation into football and homework and weed, of him avoiding her gaze in class and staring at her in the hallways, of doing anything he could to distract himself from thinking about her and failing utterly and miserably.

“Hey,” he heard from over by the fence. He glanced over at the track, where she had paused in her run, sweaty and flushed and breathtaking.

He walked over, pulling off his helmet and dangling it from his fingers by the face guard. “Hey,” he said.

She leaned against the fence. “You guys look good,” she said, nodding to where the defensive line was practicing blitzing against the dummies. “Or, I mean, you could look worse. So that’s good.”

Kent cracked a reluctant smile. “You been watching long?”

“Just a few minutes,” she said, undoing her messy ponytail and binding it up again neatly. “Saw that catch. You lay out like that in a game and you’re getting creamed into turf paste.”

“Mean,” Kent said, unable to keep from laughing, and she grinned back.

Jack rubbed her hands together to warm them. “I had fun at your party,” she said.

And just like that, Kent’s smile wiped off his face. What kind of fucking comment was - Jesus Christ. “Yeah, I bet,” he said stiffly.

Jack’s gaze dropped for a moment; she dragged it up with what seemed to be immense force of will. Good. Let her be ashamed. “Um,” she said. “I just meant…”

Kent didn’t say anything, letting her dig her own hole.

“Never mind,” she said. “Have a good practice.” She turned and started running again.

 

 

That night, he got a Facebook message from someone he didn’t know - an Eric Bittle, from Montreal, Canada. He stared uncomprehendingly at the smiling blond in the profile picture before clicking into the message.

_Eric: I think you’re being very unfair to Jack_.

Instantly, Kent was enraged.

_Kent: I don’t think I asked._

_Eric: She’s not the best at social interactions. She had no idea you’d be so upset._

_Eric: And frankly, I think you’re overreacting_.

Forget enraged, Kent was enflamed.

_Kent: I repeat._

_Eric: You don’t have to agree. I understand that you feel hurt._

_Eric: But from an outside observer, what you are doing is cruel._

_Kent: Fuck. Off._

He blocked the guy. What the fuck, even.

He wondered how Jack was characterizing the situation to this fuckhead to make herself into the victim. As if she didn’t know Kent was interested - or maybe that this was her way of letting him down easy, without the actual event of a rejection? Either way, she was full of shit.

She knew. There was no way she didn’t know, and fucking Chad - fucking Chad in his  _bed_? Over the goddamn line.

And he thought he couldn’t be any angrier.

 

 

But guilt gnawed at him all the same, eating at his stomach. At lunch the next day, he felt weird enough to bring it up, wanting some validation.

“Hey,” he said to Shitty. “You think I’m being too hard on Jack?”

Shitty shrugged. “I mean…”

“Shit,” Kent said, because the lack of an immediate denial was telling. “You get it, right? Why I don’t want to see her anymore?”

“Oh sure, I get it,” Shitty said. “But, like, you’ve got the whole team siding with you on this, and all the girls she had been friends with - and it was you who got them to be friends in the first place, so it feels kind of… bait-and-switch-y.”

Kent looked around. “I didn’t ask anyone to…”

“But you haven’t told them off for it either,” Shitty pointed out bluntly. “She didn’t owe it to you to fuck you, and the girls have been really cold to her, and the guys aren’t any better.”

Kent pressed his lips together. Self-absorbed as it was, he hadn't noticed any of that, so fixated on ignoring Jack’s existence. “I didn’t realize,” he said, a little roughly. He glanced at the table where she had sat for lunch, when she wasn’t sitting with him and the team – Jenny, Mandy, Georgia, April, March. No Jack.

“Where has she been eating?” he asked.

Shitty shrugged. “Dunno.”

“Library,” inputted Holster, apparently eavesdropping on their conversation. “I had to pick up a book the other day and she was curled up in one of those big lounge chairs in the back.”

“Oh, I saw her sitting in Mr. Murray’s room,” said Ransom. “I think she was doing her homework there.”

“Jesus,” Kent said, starting to feel a little sick. “Is  _anyone_ still talking to her?”

All the guys looked around at each other.

“Fuck,” Kent said. Like Shitty had said, Jack didn’t owe him anything. He was hurt, but that didn’t mean the rest of them had to turn against her. She hadn’t done anything wrong, really. “You guys didn’t have to do that.”

The guys looked around more. Nobody seemed to want to be the one to speak.

“Bro,” said Nursey. “You’ve been taking this pretty hard…”

Kent groaned. “Guys, please, don’t take this out on her for my sake. You can be friends with her.” He rubbed his temples, feeling gross and guilty and small. “Seriously. I’m telling you to be friends with her.”

“Cool,” Ransom said, smiling.

All in all, not a shining moment for Kent.

 

 

It seemed like he’d taken the first step towards acceptance, but Kent still felt so angry afterwards - it was all well and good for the other guys to patch things up with Jack, but he wasn’t any closer to forgiveness. Fuck.

In his  _bed_.

Then came the last straw, in the form of Chad swaggering up in the locker room and drawling, “So we’re allowed to be BFFs with Jack again? ‘Cause man, out of respect to you I’ve been staying away, but -”

Kent’s fist was flying before he registered moving. Chad was a big guy and he didn’t stagger back, but his head snapped to the side satisfyingly, and Kent’s knuckles only smarted a little from it.

“What the fuck,” Chad said, turning slowly towards Kent and approaching him. “Christ, Parse, you better have a great fucking explanation for that.”

“Do you think I don’t  _know_?” Kent snapped, too angry to care about the fact that he was about to get the shit kicked out of him.

“Know what?” Chad said.

Kent shoved forward, meeting him toe to toe. “Know that you fucked her in my bed, shithead.”

“Oh,” Chad said, then, absurdly, started laughing. “Shit, yeah, I guess.”

For a moment, Kent was too stunned to respond, which was the only reason Chad was safe from having his eyes gouged out.

“What the fuck, man,” said Shitty, coming up at Kent’s side.

“Oh come on,” Chad said, expression going ugly. “Like it’s so out of character? Shouldn’t have left your door unlocked if you didn’t want -”

“You’re so full of shit,” Kent shouted, shoving him. “It’s totally out of line.”

Shitty and Holster jumped between them, holding Kent and Chad apart. Objectively, Kent knew that he should have been grateful, but he was so flooded with rage he felt he could have held his own. He snarled and tried to shove past Shitty.

“You knew how he felt about her,” Ransom said quietly from the side.

“What, and Parson gets first pick on all the girls in school?” Chad said. “I can’t fuck any of them if he sees them first?”

“I’ve never asked for that before,” Kent said, struggling against Holster’s restraining arm. “ _Never_. She’s the first girl I -”

“Oh come on, what about Jack?” Chad said. “I thought she was your one and only.” The words dripped from his mouth, saccharine and disdainful.

“She is, you jackass!” Kent said, anger only building.

But Shitty turned sharply and looked at Chad. “Yeah, who did you think we were talking about?”

“Marisa,” Chad said. “You’re talking about Jack?”

Kent didn’t even understand what he was getting at for a long moment. Then he froze. “Duh, we’re talking about Jack,” he said. “You fucked her in my room at the party.”

“No, I didn’t,” Chad said, looking at him like he was crazy. “I fucked Marisa in your room at the party. Never touched Jack.”

“What?” Kent said.

“Wait, what?” Shitty said.

“Georgia told me she saw Jack go into my room, and that you went in a few minutes later, and then, I mean, we all heard it,” Kent said, eyes narrowed.

Chad shook his head. “Room was empty, bro. I went in, Marisa came in a few minutes later, and we fucked. No one was there.” He shrugged. “Window was open. Maybe she went out that way.”

Holy shit. Kent staggered back, putting his hand to his forehead.

No wonder Jack looked so hurt and confused, he realized. No wonder she couldn’t seem to fathom why he was so upset with her. No wonder Eric had been so angry with him, no wonder…

“I’m such an asshole,” he said.

“Yeah, if that’s why you’ve been blowing her off this whole time,” Chad agreed. “Shoulda said something earlier, bro.”

“Dude,” Shitty said. “Go.”

Kent looked at his locker. “But - practice,” he protested weakly.

“ _Go_ ,” Shitty said.

“We’ll cover for you, man,” Holster said. “Go get your girl.”

Kent didn’t need to be told again.

 

 

She wasn’t home when he got there, but he’d only been sitting on her steps for a few minutes when she ran up. She saw him and slowed, warily removing one earbud. “Hey,” she said guardedly.

“Dude, I fucked up,” Kent said, rising to his feet. “I am  _so_  sorry.”

Jack stared at him for another minute, then started to smile, shy and small. “Really?”

“I thought - I thought you’d done something way worse than you did, and I didn’t let you explain,” Kent said. “You thought I was mad at you for ditching out on my party halfway through? I know how much you hate parties, I was just glad you gave it a shot.”

Jack tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear. “Oh… Seriously? What were you so mad about, then?”

“Georgia told me you and Chad were fucking in my bedroom,” Kent said. “Apparently he went in right after you went out the window, and she must not have noticed Marisa follow a minute later. And I just - I mean -”

Jack’s mouth fell open slightly as she absorbed this.

“It kind of made sense,” Kent mumbled. “You disappeared and Georgia knew you were in my room and -”

“No, I get it,” Jack said, still looking a little dazed. “ _Oh_.”

Kent ducked his head. “But still, I should have given you a chance to explain. That was shitty.”

Jack shrugged, not denying it. “Does everyone else know the truth now, too?”

Kent nodded.

“Good,” Jack said decisively. “That was fucked.”

“I’m sorry,” Kent said.

Jack laughed. “It’s okay,” she said. “Really, it is. I’m over it already, so you should be too.”

“Okay,” Kent said, grinning. “I’m gonna take your word for it.”

“Good, if I didn’t mean it I wouldn’t have said it,” Jack said. She inched over to him, playing with the hem of his shirt and looking up at him through those ridiculous eyelashes. “You must like me a lot to get that upset, huh?”

“So fucking much,” Kent admitted.

Jack smiled broadly. “Yeah, I know.” She twisted his shirt. “That’s why I left, actually.”

Kent went a little stiff. Surely he couldn’t be misreading her body language now - but then, why would she…?

“I heard you and Shitty talking from your room - the window was open,” Jack said. “And I just… didn’t want our first time to be like that, you know?” She looked down. “I’m not very experienced and I wanted… But I didn’t want to say no if you tried anything, because I thought you would take it as a rejection, like I wasn’t interested. So I went out the window.”

“Pro tip, man,” Kent said, smiling, “if you don’t want me to feel rejected, probs you shouldn’t flee out the goddamn window to get away from me.”

“Yeah, in retrospect…” Jack said.

“But that means, like,” Kent said, moving in closer and putting both hands on her hips. “That means you want a first time, right? Just - not drunk at a house party?”

“Yeah, I want a first time,” Jack murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck. “A first time, a second time, and however many times after.”

Kent ducked in close and kissed her, long and greedy and deep.

When he pulled away, her eyes were bright and she was sweetly flushed. “You want to come in?” she said. “My parents won’t be home until late.”

“Fucking right I do,” Kent said, grinning.

 

 

Kent was late to English class the next day, having spent too long shooting the shit with Shitty in the hallway. He just grinned at Mr. Murray when he walked in, though, because what the fuck did he care about being marked tardy? The way Jack looked at him and smiled when he walked in the door, like a reflex, made him feel invincible.

“Hey, slacker,” Jack said when he sat down, smirking at him.

“Hey, babe,” Kent said, sprawling in his seat so his legs stretched across the aisle and hooking their ankles together below her desk.

He spent pretty much the whole class watching her and doodling, loosely sketching her exasperated expression when she kept glancing over and seeing his eyes on her.

As soon as the bell rang, Kent was up, stuffing his notebook into his backpack. Jack took a little longer to get her stuff together, and he fidgeted impatiently by her side, only settling when she hip-checked him and, more importantly, tucked her hand into his. “Chill, bro,” she said.

“You chill,” he said, squeezing her fingers and leaning in to kiss her, slow and long.

Jack’s eyes were gratifyingly bright when he released her. “You’re going to make me late to class,” she said.

“Clearly, that’s not a huge concern of mine,” Kent said, grinning.

“Clearly,” Mr. Murray said dryly from the front of the room.

In the hallway, Kent slung his arm around her waist and tugged her close, making her walk a little stilted. “How long can I expect this possessive phase to last?” she said.

“Just be thankful I didn’t make you sit in my lap at lunch,” he said, nuzzling her temple.

“Yeah, you try that,” Jack said. “See how that goes for you.”

Kent grinned, not meaning it. “Weeks,” he said, pressing a kiss to her hair. “Months, maybe.”

“Go to class,” she said, disentangling herself from his arm in front of her math classroom.

Kent sighed self-pityingly and turned to go.

She caught his arm, though, and he turned back, raising an expectant eyebrow. She jiggled her cell phone. “Text me?” she said.

Kent had to kiss her again, right there in the doorway.

Holster wolf-whistled from inside the classroom.

 

 

“So I guess you two sorted shit out, huh?” Holster said when they were changing before practice, leaning against the locker next to Kent’s.

“Gee, how can you tell?” Shitty said wryly. “The perpetual idiotic smile? The humming? The way he can’t keep her hands off her when they’re in the same room?” He grinned at Kent.

“That, and the scratches on his shoulders,” Holster said, waggling his eyebrows.

Reminded of them, Kent glanced back over his shoulder into the mirror and smiled - yes, idiotically - at the sight of them.

“Am I off the shit list, then?” Chad asked.

“You swear not to fuck anyone in my room ever again, and you are,” Kent said. “Bro, non-beauty move.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Chad said, lacing up his pads.

Kent pulled on his compression shirt. “I know I’m being -” He gestured loosely. “But goddamn, she’s just…” He sighed.

“How many days do we give him to bask before we start ragging on him for it?” Holster asked the room at large.

“Same amount of time he was angsting before? Four days?” Shitty said. “Seems fair.”

“Yeah, alright,” Holster said. “But if he spontaneously bursts into song, I can’t be held responsible for my actions.”

Kent laughed. “Fair,” he said.

“Goddamn cartoon animals floating around his head,” Chad agreed.

“Flowers bursting up where he walks,” Ransom chimed in.

“You can all fuck right off,” Kent said, but of course they all ignored him. Shitheads, the lot of them. Once he stopped grinning, he’d tell them that.

 


End file.
